Alexander von Linsingen


Alexander Adolf August Karl von Linsingen was a German general during World War I.

Military service

Linsingen joined the Prussian Army in 1868 and rose to Corps Commander in 1909. He was one of the very few top German generals not to have served on the general staff.
At the beginning of World War I, Linsingen was a Corps commander in the First Battle of the Marne. Transferred to the Eastern Front where German and Austrian armies were threatened by a Russian offensive in Galicia, Linsingen took command of South Army. He defeated the Russian armies in the Battle of Stryi in 1915, capturing 60,000 Russian prisoners. He was awarded the Pour le Mérite on 14 May 1915 and the Oakleaves on 3 July 1915.
In 1915, he took command of the Army of the Bug and was concurrently commander of Heeresgruppe Linsingen. In June 1916, his Army Group faced the Brusilov offensive. After an initial retreat, he checked the Russian advance at the Battle of Kowel. He was promoted to Colonel-General, the second highest rank for a general in the Imperial German Army. In 1917-1918 and especially after the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, he led the German advance into the Ukraine.

On 31 March 1918, his Army Group was disbanded and von Linsingen became the Military Governor of Berlin. Alexander von Linsingen died on 5 June 1935 and is interred at the Neuen St. Nikolai-Friedhof in Hannover, Germany.

Decorations and awards